Auto News - Published on Fri, 20 Apr 2018

Reuters reported that Volkswagen AG unit Electrify America will install electric vehicle charging stations at more than 100 Walmart Inc store locations in 34 US states by mid-2019 as part of Electrify's plans to bolster charging infrastructure across the country, the two companies said.

Mr Mark Vanderhelm, vice president for energy at Walmart, the world's largest retailer, told Reuters "We recognize that electric vehicles are going to grow and become more relevant. We are trying to get out in front of that."

The Walmart charging stations are part of a broader Electrify America project to install 2,000 chargers at nearly 500 charging stations across the country by June 2019.

Wayne Killen, Electrify America's senior director for infrastructure, said that 80 percent of the Walmart charging stations would be at store locations alongside highways, while the remaining 20 percent would be in metro areas.

Killen said the highway locations will primarily provide chargers for trips between U.S. cities but also cross-country journeys along Interstate 10 between Santa Monica, California and Jacksonville, Florida, plus Interstate 80 that runs from San Francisco and Teaneck, New Jersey.

Major automakers including General Motors Co and Ford Motor Co have announced plans to invest tens of billions of dollars on families of electric vehicles over the next few years, in a direct challenge to money-losing Tesla Inc.